City Colleges To Open High-Tech Facility For Transportation Career Training
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn announced plans Tuesday morning for a new City College facility to train students for transportation and logistics careers.
The new City Colleges of Chicago Transportation, Distribution and Logistics Center will be constructed at Olive-Harvey College, at 10001 S. Woodlawn Ave.
The facility will be funded with $31.6 million from the State of Illinois, and $10.6 million from the City Colleges, according to the Mayor's office. It will prepare students for careers in ground, air and rail transportation; multi-modal distribution; and logistics.
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"With this funding, Governor Quinn is supporting our 'College to Careers' program that re-engineers, re-imagines, and revolutionizes our City Colleges in order to meet the demand of the high-growth sectors of the future," Mayor Emanuel said in a news release. "This shared investment reflects our shared determination to strengthen our economy together."
The new 200,000 square-foot campus building will create almost 300 construction jobs. Once it's finished, the building will include a high-tech warehouse environment, as well as laboratories, workshops, classrooms and facilities for virtual reality simulation, the Mayor's office said.
The new building is set to replace 112,000 square feet of temporary classroom space adjacent to the main Olive-Harvey building, the Mayor's office said.
"By investing in our community colleges, we can better prepare Illinois residents with the skills they need to compete for these high-technology jobs," Gov. Quinn said in the release. "We'll put people to work building this new facility, and we'll empower students with state-of-the-art tools and training they need to go out and get these good-paying, high-tech jobs."
Construction of the facility is set to begin in the spring of next year, and be completed by spring 2015, according to the Mayor's office.
